What’s a pigeon-smidgeon?

I’ll give you a clue. It’s the same as a “chucklebutty” and a “toochy face”. Yep, I’ve been thinking about pet names.

No, not the names I call my pets (although we do have a guinea pig named Sweetie, which has caused a bit of confusion, with my 3-year-old asking “Which one Sweetie?”), but the names my parents called me and my sister and the names I call my two sons.

When my parents chose to call me Keris, they said they thought it would be shortened to Kerry. No one has ever called me Kerry. Instead, my mum and dad either called me Kerissma and Kerissimo, along with the above-mentioned “pigeon-smidgeon” which did get shortened. To “pidge”. And “smidge”.

I call my husband “Duf” which is short for “doofus” (which I used to think was spelled “dufus”). He calls me “Kezza”.

When I was thinking about this post, I asked my 8-year-old, Harry, what I call him. He said, “Sometimes ‘chicken’…” I also call him “H”, “Hazza”, “Haribo” and “Harold” (even though he’s just Harry). As well as “Sweetie”, I call my other son Joe “Joe-bo”, “Bo” and sometimes “Josephine” (but, oddly, never Joseph). I call them both “fish face.”

It’s funny, all this name-calling, don’t you think? But I like it. Thinking of my parents saying “pidge” or “smidge” brings them back more strongly than almost anything else, which makes me happy (and also sad, obviously).

Hiii!
I have the weirdest pet names. My mum has a list of 40 names she calls me, none of which make any sense.
My dad calls me all sorts of pet names in German, from the nice (little mouse, cute thing, etc) to the not so nice (witch, stupid cow) – but not in that way! In Germany, they’re not real insults….or so he says!
My brother calls me VERY VERY weird things, such as: Possum General.
Please don’t ask me about that!
x

My son George was, predictably enough, a Georgy-Porgy when he was little. But then that became Squodgy-Podge, Squidgy-Squadge, etc. If I was feeling particularly affectionate, it could go on for ages: Squidgy-Squadgy-Podgy-Wodgy, ad infinitum. He’s now 16, but I still often call him Squodge or Squidge. A friend calls her daughter Bubble, which I think is quite endearing.

When I was a baby I was quite fat and squat so my Grandad nicknamed me ‘Pudding’, my Dad always called me Pumpkin and sometimes still does (although I’m now a skinny beanpole)
Parents call me ‘Princess’ sometimes too.
My best friend at school called me ‘Chuckle-bum’ because she said I was always laughing. :D
But generally I get Becky, Bex, Beckster, Becca, Becksie Rebecca, Reb, Reeb – (don’t like those last 2.)
When I was 10, one of my teachers at school couldn’t remember my name so for an entire year she just called me ‘Fred’, I was not amused and still get put off by that name!

My cat started as ‘Henry’ then ‘Henny-Ben’, then ‘Henny-Benny-Boo’, sometimes he gets called ‘Bibbity Bobbity Boo’, ‘Little Man’, ‘Gorgeous’ and once when I was picking him up outside my house a guy walked past with his dog and said “Do you own Jeremy then?” and I was like “Who?” and he said “the cat!”, i laughed and told him his name was Henry and he laughed and said, “He always looked like a Jeremy to me.” then walked away! Still don’t know why!
He’s probably got a hundred different names. :D

I love this, Keris! I call my nephew “baby bear”, which is on the normal side, I think. I’ve always called my sister “Phoebe” or “Phoebe Beeberbee” after the book character, which she loved when we were kids. Also I always called her Binky, but I don’t really know why. Actually I call my nephew that now too, so obviously it’s not person-specific…